Sometimes in a Bible reading plan, the Old Testament can be confusing. Especially the prophetic sections. I have found that the days reading through Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel can seem to take twice as long, and I often struggle to “get anything out of it.” But a few years ago as, I was reading Isaiah 11 the opening lines struck me with incredible curiosity:
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. (Isaiah 11|1-3a)
I’m not sure why, but I had to investigate, immediately! What does it mean? My curiosity led me back to Genesis 3, where after sin entered the world for the first time, God scolded the serpent for deceiving Adam and Eve. He said:
I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel. (Gen 3|15)
This was a promise from God that while Satan may have won the round, the offspring of the woman would ultimately win the war. Then throughout the rest of Genesis, as the story progresses, we learn that this child will come from the descendants of a man named Abraham.
In 2 Samuel 7, we read that this “offspring” will also come from the great line of the kings of Israel. He will be called a “Son of David” who will “reign forever” (2 Samuel 7|11b-16)
But then when we read the stories of David and his son Solomon, we read about repeated rebellion against God. And then we have all these books in the Old Testament that record the descent of the offspring of David from rebellious to downright evil as they plummet the Kingdom of Israel into depravity and brokenness.
Eventually God allowed Israel to be overtaken by the surrounding nations and his people to be dragged into exile.
In the midst of sin and hopelessness, the remnant of the people of Israel wondered if the promises of God had become null and void because of their disobedience.
It was when their despair was reaching an all-time high, that the prophet Isaiah proclaimed
A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him— (Isaiah 11|1-2a)
Jesse was king David’s dad. And though this prophetic tree that represents Jesse’s family appears to be dead, he declared that out of the stump a shoot would grow. And God’s Spirit will rest on him (the new shoot) and he will bring hope not only for Israel, but all people…
We read later::
10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious. (Isaiah 11|10)
The Apostle Paul referenced this verse in his letter to the Romans. Paul connected the “nations” specifically to the Gentiles. He writes:
12 And again, Isaiah says,
“The Root of Jesse will spring up,
one who will arise to rule over the nations;
in him the Gentiles will hope.” (Romans 15|12)
What he’s saying is that all humanity needs a rescuer. And when Israel was under the oppression of the Philistines, David rose up to slay Goliath and rescue the people. The promise from Isaiah was that in the same way that David rose up to rescue Israel when they were faithless… another rescuer from his offspring would come.
Indeed, Jesus has become the rod of Jesse, who by his death and resurrection has fulfilled this prophecy. In him we, “the nations,” the Gentiles, may find hope.
The promise for humanity, even to this day, is that when we are powerless, a king will come. Even if we are faithless, he will remain faithful to us!
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